— 8th June 2005, near Seaborough —

"Urgh, this whole walkin' around is boring me!" Cedric groaned as they hopped across the field to where Jonathan's compass was pointing. They had been walking for two whole days across the island in search of the next Rainbow Fairy closest to where Jonathan's compass was pointing. They took a break when they reached a river, managing to replenish themselves on the nearby insects around them.

"Be patient, Cedric," Jonathan told him. "The mortal world is a big place, but we'll traverse it eventually."

"Alright," Cedric said. "Where exactly is your compass pointing?"

"to the right," Jonathan answered. "I've wired the thing to point to the next Rainbow Fairy in the order of when their color appears on the rainbow. Which means we are going to rescue Amber the Orange Fairy."

"I don't know why you did that, but okay," Stanley piped in.

"It's a bit of fun! We need it after being set on this bleak task," Jonathan said.

"We desperately need it," Francis added, still as nervous as ever.

The five frogs soon came across a giant road of asphalt that cut the grassy field in two. several lines were marked over it, most of them in white, some in yellow.

"Whoa, what's that?" Francis asked, taken back by the sheer size of it.

"It seems to be a path of…" Jonathan put his hand on the road, and felt something strange and unique. "This isn't stone or dirt. What is this?"

"Well, this is interesting," Stanley piped in. He walked up next to Jonathan to see what he was talking about, and put his hand on the strange road. "This isn't anything we've ever seen."

"What do you mean?" Cedric asked.

"This road is made of a kind of stone we've never seen in the magical realm," Jonathan explained. "It appears to be a composite of multiple materials."

"Yeah, check this out," Stanley added, before slamming his hardened fists into the asphalt and making a good crack, before gathering the stones to the rest of the frogs.

Cedric took hold of a big chunk of asphalt in his hands and analyzed it curiously. "You're right," he said. "It does seem to be a mix of materials."

"Based on what Ruby said about her experience landing here, it wouldn't be surprising if the mortals developed this type of rock," Jonathan said. "Makes me wonder how long it's been since the fairies explored the human world."

"Well, why would they create a whole new type of rock for their roads?" Francis asked curiously. "Couldn't they have made it out of existing, natural rocks or dirt? What kind of transport would be too powerful for that?"

They soon got their answer when they heard the sound of something fast running on the road, and were nearly swept away when it speeded past them. The four frogs looked at the speeding thing in a mixture of shock and confusion.

The thing appeared to be a giant, metal cage with windows on the top, moving on four metal wheels with rubber rims around. There was a small pipe on the bottom on its back, of which smoke was coming out.

"…what is that?!" Francis said in exasperation and disbelief.

"I… I… don't even know," Jonathan replied. "Considering the roads, it might be the mortal's way of transport."

"Transport? These metal cages would burn them up! How'd they ever think building these things was a good idea?" Stanley then added.

"That's not the main thing we should be talking about," Francis said. "How is that thing moving without horses?"

"And more importantly, why are they much faster than our stuff?" Cedric asked. "These things aren't like anything we've ever seen in the magical realm. It's like they've become the magical realm and we're the mortal ones!"

"Well put," Francis added.

"Mortal technology sure is inspiring," Jonathan said. "It makes me curious as to how they got this far." Then, his head lit up with an idea. "Hey, I think it could help us!"

"How so?" Stanley asked.

"All these vehicles are moving in the direction of my compass. Maybe we could sneak into one of them and hitch a ride!" Jonathan said, detailing his idea to the other three frogs.

"I'm on board," Cedric piped, "That way we wouldn't be having to exhaust ourselves walking this far."

Francis looked at Cedric before giving his opinion. "I'm… not sure what to think. I agree with Cedric in how it reduces time and effort, but what if the mortals spot us? How would they react to four talking frogs?"

"He has a point," Stanley added. "Also, how are we supposed to get on?"

Jonathan put his hand to his chin, thinking once again. "I'm thinking we could stowaway on the back of these things so the mortals won't notice. And when we find our destination, we hop off like we were never there."

"Sounds pretty solid," Francis said in approval. "All we need is to find a place for them to stop so we can hop on."

"Well I think I've found one over there," Stanley said, spotting a gas station on the horizon.

"Bloody good work, Stanley!" Jonathan said. "Let's hop, boys!"

And with that, the four frogs crossed the road, trying to make sure any cars weren't around to crush them.

Soon, they made their way to the gas station, hiding behind a recycling bin and observing the cars to see if they could hop in. Soon, a trailer truck pulled in to refuel, and the frogs made their move, scampering across and hopping under its trailer.

And once the truck driver had finished refueling his truck, he drove it out of the gas station and towards its destination in Seaborough, unaware of its four new, amphibian passengers.

— Rainspell Island National Park —

While the rest of the footmen set out in search for the other Rainbow Fairies, Bertram stayed behind in the pot to assist Ruby in fixing it and protecting her from any threats, the two of which knew there was an abundance of them in the human world.

"So, how long was your experience here?" Bertram asked Ruby, who was using grass blades to tie some twigs together.

"I… honestly have lost track," Ruby replied, finding it hard to remember. "I spent most of it under a dark pot that I don't know how much time went by."

"Well, judging by the two holes on the pot, there was a chance you could've seen some light," Bertram pointed out. "How many times did the light go away?"

"Well…" Ruby began thinking, "the light faded from the holes seven times, if I could recall. It hurts trying to remember."

"So you've stayed in the pot for seven whole days? That must've been unbearable!" Bertram added, now feeling even more sympathetic towards Ruby's predicament now that he knew how long it took.

"Seven days? It felt like seven months!" Ruby retorted, clearly wanting to share the pain of the experience. "An eternity in pure, suffocating darkness alone! How could anyone bear it? It was like a punishment for that… simple… mistake…"

Tears flowed down once more, and she threw the chair she was making to the ground, put her hands to her face and sobbed. "Why did this have to happen?"

Bertram had finished making a chair when he saw Ruby break down, and he put a hand on her shoulder in an attempt to console her. "I-it wasn't your fault, Ruby-"

"IT WAS!" Ruby tearfully shouted. "I was the one the King and Queen tasked with sending the invitations out to everyone outside Fairyland, and because of one simple mistake, I've doomed it all! I thought I had fully finished everything, and now I'm forced to suffer the consequences of my mistakes!"

"Please, listen," Bertram was taken aback by Ruby's outburst, "There's a very good chance Jack Frost would immediately attack Fairyland even if you invited him. And when the King offered him a chance to join after he made it on his own, he turned it down in favor of punishing you all."

"That doesn't change the fact that it was my mistake that led to this. Thanks to me, me and my sisters have all been scattered across the human world and Fairyland is in a state of gray peril!" Ruby lamented, crouched on the ground. "I was the one who brought this upon myself…"

"Well Ruby, you shouldn't let your guilt eat you up," Bertram said. "At this point, it doesn't matter if you invited him or not, since the damage has already been done. All we can do is rescue your sisters and return them to Fairyland before he does more harm."

Ruby silently lowered her head in agreement, but then decided to ask a question. "Bertram… Do you think your footmen know about the dangers posed in the mortal world?"

"Why yes, they do," Bertram answered. "I'm certain Jonathan took your warnings to heart."

"I doubt it," Ruby then added. "From what I've seen, mortal technology has advanced exponentially. Beyond flight and firepower, they are also capable of replicating our magical blasts with silver projectiles. I saw one kill a worm nearby when they were firing at me. It ripped the poor thing in half!"

"Oh dear," Bertram said in worry. "Do you know any other advancements they've made?"

"I don't know, but I'm certain they've created countless other inventions to easily hunt us," Ruby continued. "I've been thinking about Francis, and how he brought up the theory of them having developed tracking technology."

"Yes, presumably," Bertram agreed. "Why do you feel the need to bring that up?"

"Because…" Ruby took a breath, still paranoid and worried about her predicament, "…I have a feeling they might be hunting us down."

A nervous smile formed on Bertram's face. "…Please, I hope it's not true. If what Her Royal Highness said is true, Jack Frost and Goblins are already after us; we can't handle two forces gunning for us!"

"Believe me, that's what I'm thinking as well," Ruby added. "What if they've already taken my sisters? Oh, my closest sisters are in limitless danger!"

"Don't worry about it. They wouldn't. We'll make sure they return to Fairyland safe and sound, away from any and all threats posed by this world," Bertram said, trying to reassure Ruby.

"And? If you can't?" Ruby still doubted Bertram's statements, finding it hard to comprehend the threat human advancement posed.

"Trust me," Bertram simply replied.

"…okay," Ruby reluctantly said. "I- I'll trust you. I don't know what will happen if you fail."

"We won't," Bertram said, trying to cheer Ruby up. "Now, let's get back to work."

"O-of course!" Ruby said with a new enthusiasm, trying to move on from the heartfelt conversation.

— Seaborough, Rainspell Island —

Meanwhile, far from the pot, The truck had finally arrived at its destination in Seaborough, parking at a Dhamecha Cash & Carry in the outskirts of the town to unload.

"All in a day's work," the truck driver, Tim Goodman, remarked as he left the truck and walked towards the trailer's door, keys in hand. "I guess it's time to give these retailers some good stuff."

He soon opened the door and walked to get a trolley for the goods, and the frogs, who had hidden under the trailer the whole time, took the opening to scamper away, hiding in a nearby bush.

"You think they noticed?" Francis worryingly asked.

"Eh, if we just stripped ourselves and kept our mouths shut, they wouldn't bat an eyelash seeing us scamper around," Cedric remarked.

"Enough chatter, we still need to find Amber!" Jonathan said, disrupting the conversation. "According to my compass, this vehicle has taken us extremely close to her location."

"So how do we reach her?" Stanley asked.

"It's simple: hopping," Jonathan enthusiastically answered.

"Sounds fair to me," Cedric commented. "Now how do we get out of here?"

"You see that large field over there?" Jonathan said, pointing over to a field in the background of the Dhamecha. "It's in the direction my compass is pointing towards. If we wait for everyone to leave, we can hop past unnoticed!"

"But why do we have to wait for them to turn our backs?" Stanley asked. "Can't we just do it now?"

"Do I have to say this again?" Cedric grumbled. "The mortals would freak out at the sight of fully-dressed frogs!"

"Good. They deserve it for attacking the Rainbow Fairies," Stanley said with a grin.

Jonathan looked at Stanley, concerned. "Listen, I understand that the mortals have done serious, serious things to the Rainbow Fairies, but that doesn't mean all of them are guilty of it. Most of them have never even heard of our kind!"

"Please, think rationally," Francis said, taking Jonathan's side. "It's not worth going after all the mortals."

"Yeah, revenge's the last thing we should be thinking here," Cedric chimed in. "We're not here to fight, we're here to rescue the fairies and get outta here. This whole thing is already as complicated as it is."

"Well?" Stanley retorted. "Either way, the mortals would resort to killing us when they eventually see us. Better we initiate it than them."

"Listen Stan, I-I'm not Bertram, so I don't know much about leadership," Jonathan spoke again, "but Francis and Cedric are right. The mortal forces aren't worth fighting. These truck drivers don't mean any harm, what's the point in hurting them?"

"Okay, you might be right," Stanley said, conceding. "The real enemies are the mortals responsible for putting the Rainbow Fairies in their predicament. And considering Ruby's theories, they're probably still searching for them."

Jonathan sighed. "Like I said, we're not going to fight them!"

"So what are we going to do when they find us?" Stanley asked. "You can only avoid violence for so long."

"Ifthey find us," Jonathan corrected Stanley. "Which I hope they don't."

"Whatever," Stanley shrugged. "I guess we'll do it your way."

And the frogs waited until most of the vehicles had pulled out, leaving the Dhamecha empty.

"This is our time, boys!" Jonathan said. "Let's move!"

The frogs then wordlessly hopped across to the field, all three of them following Jonathan's lead as he followed the direction his compass took him. They continued hopping when they reached the field, where eventually by the time they stopped, the sun was beginning to set.

When they stopped, they had nearly reached the end of the field, blocked by a wooden fence. The holes were too narrow for any of the frogs to squeeze through, so they stacked themselves on top of each other to get a good look at what was on the other side.

Jonathan saw a beach filled with sand, where people were starting to leave because of the setting sun. The waters of the North Sea calmly washed themselves on the fringes of the beach, and the sun made the sky red as it dipped into the horizon behind a few ships. However, to the tired and winded frogs, that was not the real beauty.

On the beach, there was a small scallop shell. Of course, there were many scallop shells - and washed-up seaweeds and rocks and litter and trash everywhere - but to the frogs, they could see a hint of orange sparkles softly fly out of its opening. Exactly what the frogs have spent 4 days searching for.

"This is it," Jonathan said with glee. "That's Amber."

"We finally made it there," Stanley said, relieved, "and all the effort paid off."

"Only 5 more to go," Cedric dryly added. "I'm happy they're still alive and safe."

"Are you sure?" Francis replied. "What if they got hurt along the way?"

"Even if they did, they'll be patched up eventually," Jonathan said. "Like Cedric said, that they're still here is all that matters."

"Fair enough," Francis said. "We have to keep a lookout for any goblins or mortals who intend to hunt them, though."

"We can beat them, no problem," Stanley told Francis.

"Goblins sure, but we don't know what the mortals are capable of," Cedric said, assessing Stanley's statement and seeing what's next. "For all they know, they'd vaporize us with something incomprehensible."

"Please don't argue," Jonathan said, looking down below at the other three frogs. "We can see Amber's magic from afar. All that matters is rescuing her."

"Besides, it's getting dark, and we're all tired of hopping across this place," Cedric suggested, "How about we take a rest?"

"And abandon Amber to any danger?" Francis protested. "We have to do thisquickly, or the Rainbow Fairies will actually die!"

"Please, we're all exhausted," Stanley told him, annoyed by his constant worrying. "We've been traveling across this huge island for four whole days barely non-stop. We deserve a rest."

"And what about Amber?" Francis then asked.

"She'll be fine," Jonathan replied.

"I guess so," Francis simply said.

The frogs soon hopped to find a nearby ditch, where they went down and took a well-earned rest after four days of traversing Rainspell Island in search of the next Rainbow Fairy.